Episode 335 - Role Playing Games in Behavior Analysis w/ Danielle Yang

A kobold approaches! He's looking for someone to help him with his social skills to gain greater friends at the taverns. Do you roll for behavior analysis clinical skills? Or attack him with your +2 broadsword? While we've definitely discussed role-playing activities in training contexts, recent years have seen a huge increase in interest in gamification in learning a variety of skills. One area of research is in the use of tabletop role-playing games in therapeutic and clinical settings. But is there any research to back up the hype? This week we're joined by active RPG player clinical user, Danielle Yang , to dive into the research base as we work to answer the question: could the use of RPGs in treatment be considered behavior analytic? Interested in learning more about this topic? Danielle offers a deeper-dive course into the use of RPGs in treatment and skill planning. You can also join her Discord to chat with other RPG/ABA practitioners. And keep your eye out for a bonus episode this month where we'll be demoing just HOW a tabletop RPG could be used in a clinical setting. This episode is available for 1.0 LEARNING CEU. Articles discussed this episode: Arenas, D.L., Viduani, A., & Araujo, R.B. (2022). Therapeutic use of role-playing game (RPG) in mental health: A scoping review. Simulation and Gaming, 53 , 285-311. doi: 10.1177/10468781211073720 Yuliawati, L., Wardhani, P.A.P., & Ng, J.H. (2024). A scoping review of tabletop role-playing game (TTPRG) as a psychological intervention: Potential benefits and future directions. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 17, 2885-2903. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S466664 Helbig, K.A., (2019). Evaluation of a role-playing game to improve social skills for individuals with ASD. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern Mississippi]. Aquila Digital Community. If you're interested in ordering CEs for listening to this episode, click here to go to the store page. You'll need to enter your name, BCBA #, the two episode secret code words, and answers to the knowledge check questions to complete the purchase. Email us at abainsidetrack@gmail.com for further assistance.

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Episode 335 - Role Playing Games in Behavior Analysis w/ Danielle Yang is an episode from ABA Inside Track by Robert Parry-Cruwys.

This episode is 01:16:21 long.

This episode was published on Feb 18, 2026.

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